At last, a PR success for BP as Dudley takes over the reins

THE clean-up bill for the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster has risen to $11.2 billion (£7.1bn), BP revealed yesterday, as new American-born chief executive Bob Dudley officially took up the reins from the ousted Tony Hayward.

The oil major also pledged revenues from assets in the Gulf, including the Thunder Horse and Mad Dog platforms, to help finance its $20bn fund for victims of the worst oil spill in US history. BP said it would channel the income from a number of its fields in the area, also including Atlantis, into its compensation fund.

City analysts said the move was shrewd on BP's part as well as being one of its more surefooted public relations moves in a tragedy dogged by gaffes that led to Hayward's resignation from the top job.

Alan Sinclair, oil analyst with broker Seymour Pierce, said: "It's quite a clever thing that BP's done which is, here are our deep water Gulf of Mexico assets, and we're pledging overriding royalties as collateral which should suggest to the US administration not to in any way meddle with these facilities."

The move comes against the backcloth of City concerns that America could ban the British firm from future drilling after US lawmakers voted in July to pass an amendment to a bill that would prevent BP from acquiring new exploration leases after the fatal Gulf blowout in April.

A BP spokesman declined to comment on whether yesterday's pledging of the assets as collateral for the victims' fund meant the US government had told the group, or the company expected, it will not be banned from future drilling.

It came as BP said the total bill for fighting the spill and compensating victims had hit $11.2bn by 29 September, up from $9.5bn on 18 September.

The pledging of the Gulf assets is in line with the terms of the fund set out in August, when the British group agreed to give the fund first call on some oil revenues to bankroll its $5bn contribution this year and the $1.25bn every quarter from 2011 to 2013. Yesterday's development capped a good few days for BP, with the market pleased at Dudley's hint on Thursday that dividend payments would resume within months.

The group's shares closed up nearly 3 per cent or 12.7p at 440.5p.

It also came as unconfirmed reports from Russia said domestic oil company TNK-BP, half owned by BP, was considering making an offer for its Venezuelan and Vietnamese assets.

One source said: "They (the board] decided to make an offer, and then it will be a matter of negotiations." The source added that any offer would be for both assets.

BP has a $30bn programme of asset sales to help fund the payouts in the Gulf and to help turn the company around under Dudley, who was appointed to BP's board last April after heading TNK-BP until December 2008.